Letters to the Editor for June 21, 2013

What is safety worth?

In considering PG&E's recently proposed general rate case, it is easy for consumers to say "no" when asked to spend money, but a "yes" for safety is the responsible choice for our communities.

Remember the horrific San Bruno gas explosion of 2010? After such tragedies, liable businesses must radically change. Since then, and to their credit, PG&E has taken bold steps to transform their entire pipeline safety management approach with the goal of becoming the safest utility in the country. I know. Our physicists have been working with PG&E engineers for several months.

I am the CEO of Picarro, based in Santa Clara, employing 90 ratepayers. Like hundreds of other companies, we stand to benefit from PG&E's proposed rate increase. Our extreme precision instruments are used by the world's top climate researchers to measure greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. In response to the San Bruno tragedy, our scientists repurposed our technology to reinvent the leak detection paradigm - to help avert pipeline disasters from happening again. (Methane is also a potent greenhouse gas and the primary molecule in natural gas.)

Equipped with our technology that is 1,000 times more sensitive than legacy "state-of-the-art" technology, PG&E stands ready and willing to find and fix gas leaks that currently go completely undetected. As we know all too well, undetected leaks can have catastrophic consequences.

So what's safety worth? The PG&E rate case puts the price tag at a very reasonable $12 a family per month. PG&E is ready. They are willing. Now, we must enable our gas company to become the safest utility in the nation by supporting their general rate case.

Michael Woelk

CEO of Picarro Inc.

Santa Clara

Faith in humanity renewed

I always believe in the goodness of people but never more so than today.

My dog Maya was spooked by the fireworks last night and dug her way out of the yard.

While visions of what could have happened to her flashed before my eyes, some wonderful person found her and took her to the drop-off at the shelter to keep her safe. They went out of their way to do the right thing and I will be eternally grateful.

She is home safe and sound, and my belief in the goodness of people is renewed.

Thank you, thank you.

Melinda Messner-Rios

Salinas

Outsiders shouldn't
tell us how to live

I have been reading with interest your recent articles regarding the UFW chaos and the pesticide recertification process.

My parents worked the fields and many in my extended family still work the fields.

What I found most disturbing is how many out-of-town activists are coming into our community to tell us how we should be living our lives. On June 13, the Californian quoted a Berkeley resident and paid activist Dana Perls about her view of pesticides.

And this weekend there is a column by a lawyer-activist Michael Marsh who gives his opinion on the need for more regulations.

How about interviewing some people in our own community who can talk about the need for protecting our jobs, the need for greater investment in job training programs, and how farming jobs has helped put food on the table for so many of our families and provided others the opportunity to send their kids to college.

It is NOT glamorous work, but its an honest job.

Perhaps Marsh and his organization, California Rural Legal Assistance, Inc., should be more concerned about complying with the existing laws they have to follow.

A federal court has found that CRLA has repeatedly violated federal prohibitions on use of public funds; this includes illegally funneling money for CRLA political activities.

CRLA double dips by taking federal assistance money from poor workers and then charging those same workers for its services. That money goes to pay people like Marsh to attack our community and our only source of income.

And what about all the liens against CRLA's key leaders for failure to pay taxes and fees owed the federal, state and local governments?

With so many of their own problems, it's impossible to take these outsiders seriously.

It is amazing what a quick Google search can pull up.

Ana Aguilar

Castroville

Memorial Day
memories still strong

I would like to thank the American Legion Post 31 and Chairperson James V. Scariot for once again arranging a Memorial Day Service at the Garden of Memories Cemetery Memorial Park. A big thank you to the Salinas High School chorale ensemble led by director Zachary Stillman. The group beautifully sang patriotic songs during the ceremony which included colors and honor guard presentations, former mayor Dennis Donohue, keynote speaker, a stirring gun salute and James Mayne's poignant bugle rendition of Taps - all done under a glorious blue sky and a few fluffy, white clouds.

Sadly, we missed Roy Diaz, Salinas' oldest survivor of the infamous Bataan Death March in World War II. He was an honored guest at the service for many years. Roy passed away this Memorial Day weekend. We appreciated his wife Lorraine's brave presence at the ceremony.

Thank you all for coming and showing your respect for our veterans. I met many of them years ago during my studies at the Veterans Hospital in Los Angeles. My first rotation was at the Neuro-Psychiatric Hospital in Brentwood. On my first day, I met men with missing arms and legs, only motionless torsos, mentally distraught. Throughout the year in the acute care and domiciliary settings, I met men and women who returned from warfare with physical and mental disabilities - leaving impressions I cannot ever forget and why I fervently thank all those who have served our country. God bless them!

Dolores Billman

Salinas

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Letters to the Editor for June 21, 2013

In considering PG&E's recently proposed general rate case, it is easy for consumers to say 'no' when asked to spend money, but a 'yes' for safety is the responsible choice for our communities.